


The Key

by Lothiriel84



Category: MarsCorp (Podcast)
Genre: Families of Choice, Friendship, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Second Chances
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-10
Packaged: 2018-10-29 06:33:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10848435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lothiriel84/pseuds/Lothiriel84
Summary: Oh baby baby it's a wild worldIt's hard to get by just upon a smile





	1. Chapter 1

David was standing in the middle of Miss Hob’s office, patiently waiting for her to finish discussing whatever base-related issue she and Jim were trying to tackle this time around. The potted plant he’d made especially for her was still perched on the desk, genetically engineered teeth grinning back at him in mock approval.

(He sometimes wondered if plants too had feelings, and whether or not they suffered because of that. He thought of all the beautiful specimens generations of Earthling scientist had painstakingly catalogued before the ecosystem of the entire planet collapsed, wiping out any life form beyond bacteria. All that incredibly fascinating biodiversity, the product of millennia of evolution, gone forever due to humanity’s selfishness and propensity for self-destruction – such a waste, such a terrible waste.)

“It’s not that we don’t want to have her, Hob,” he heard Jim argue, his Hawaiian shirt a nightmare of colours that made him a tiny bit sick. “We tried, we really did – but the girls are scared of her, and I can’t honestly blame them for that.”

“For goodness’ sake, Jim,” Miss Hob bit back at him. “She’s a little girl, not some sort of a monster.”

“I never said that. It’s just – well, it’s like she doesn’t want to fit in. That’s not normal, I tell you.”

David looked at his own hands, feeling really tired all of a sudden – inadequate, like an old, faulty model that had long been made redundant, and replaced with a more efficient one. He knew as well as any other Martian how the key to happiness was fitting into the system, and yet that was a result he’d never been capable of achieving, no matter how hard he tried. (And yes, he had tried so very hard, the weight of both his parents’ and his peers’ expectations a constant burden ever since he could remember. Only Colin had been different; it had been such a relief to finally be able to be just himself, talk with someone who shared his interests and passions, and never looked at him as if he was too stupid to be like anyone else.)

Laughter bubbled up inside him, painful, as it did every time he thought of Colin. Shareholders, he’d been so incredibly naive and stupid, and yet, he would do it all again if only he thought there was the tiniest chance Colin could bring himself to love him back, just a little. He longed for the privacy of what he insisted on calling his quarters, the blissful darkness and quiet, where he could cry himself to sleep and hope to be relieved of his own thoughts for a while.

“David, did you even hear anything of what I just said?”

He nearly jumped at the question, guiltily lowered his eyes as he realised that he had once more failed to live up to someone’s expectations. When Miss Hob didn’t immediately leap at the chance to yell at him, he tentatively looked in her general direction, settling for staring at her chin as a somewhat passable substitute for eye contact.

“Hob, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Jim frowned, not quite daring to contradict her. “Besides, David is really busy with his new job, and – well, you’ve met Emma.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble at all,” he cut in without thinking, his visceral desire to prove himself useful getting the better of him, like it always did. It was only when Miss Hob smiled, the self-satisfied smirk on her face more than a little reminiscent of Colin’s, that he started wondering what he’d just got himself into.


	2. Chapter 2

_Deep breaths, David_ , he instructed himself, his fists clenching and unclenching of their own volition. _It’s just another specimen of the human species, only younger than you’re used to. What’s the worst that can happen?_

Another ten years incarceration, quite likely; he hoped they would at least let him have a few of his old books from his internship days this time around. One more decade in isolation alone with his own thoughts, and he would surely go mad.

“You’re weird,” a young female voice stated dispassionately, and he was once more reminded of the horror that had been his own childhood – how he’d never been able to mingle with his peers, nor to stand up for himself when the other children elected to express their scorn by kicking him in the shins, or stealing his exercise books. They hated him because he was different, both cleverer and infinitely more awkward than any of them could ever be; nothing much had changed ever since, he was still the odd one out, and his fellow employees would rather not have anything to do with him if at all possible.

(Most of them, at any rate. Miss Hob had been the first and most notable exception, electing to grant him his freedom, and a second chance he never thought he would either get, or deserve. Something for which he was truly grateful, though he was very careful not to let that feeling blur the line into something less appropriate, and entirely too dangerous to be dwelt upon.)

Something warm touched his hand, the unexpected contact startling him out of his jumble of thoughts. “It’s okay, I’m weird too,” the little girl announced solemnly, her expression more serious that he would have expected from a child her age. Beautifully coloured eyes met his own, his attention immediately sidetracked by the seemingly irrelevant detail.

“Central heterochromia,” he murmured before he could stop himself. “Fascinating.”

“Yeah, my Mum had it too,” the girl shrugged, as if admitting to some disgraceful medical condition. “It’s got something to do with the concentration of melanin within the irises, I think.”

“Yes,” David nodded with sudden enthusiasm. “I take it you have an interest in biology, then?”

The girl stared at him in silence for a long moment, then shook her head. “I’m not supposed to tell you. Adults don’t like it when I tell them things, they either start shouting, or crying.”

David swallowed another of his pained laughs, crouched down so that he could look at her from the same level. “People shout at me all the time. It’s no big deal, you either get used to it, or learn to ignore it in time.”

“Other people are awful.”

“Well,” he paused, considering. “I suppose some of them are, on occasion. I think the secret is being as inconspicuous as you can be – and smiling a lot, that’s the key.”

“My parents are dead, and everybody hates me. Why should I want to smile?”

“No idea,” David replied cheerfully. “But that doesn’t really matter. Just pretend that you do – fake it until you make it, isn’t that what they say?”

“What, like ‘practice makes you perfect’, and all that nonsense?”

He offered her what he hoped was an encouraging grin. “Precisely.”

“Had a lot of practice, have you?”

“But of course. I’ve been imprisoned for ten years, nothing much to do apart from brooding over every single mistake that I’ve ever made. Not that I’d recommend it,” he hastened to add. “Forget I said that.”

“You’re really weird,” Emma said with conviction. “I think I like you.”


	3. Chapter 3

Two hours and a half, that was how long Emma had been gone. No one had seen her ever since, and he was running through all the most horrific scenarios in his head, when he suddenly remembered how she’d mentioned the culture department, once. He barely heeded the supremely annoyed glare Maxamillian John turned on him, breathed a sigh of relief when he finally spotted the girl precariously perched on one of the stepladders, a dusty book open in her lap.

“She’s not supposed to stay here,” Maxamillian hissed from behind his desk. “Those books are more valuable than any brat could ever be.”

“You’re just pissed off that I beat you at all your stupid board games,” Emma retorted without even bothering to look up from her book. “Rules are rules, now I get to stay here as much as I want.”

“Yes, well,” David started, laughing nervously. “Maybe just tell me where you’re going, next time?”

That made her pause, and she cautiously looked down at him as if trying to gauge his reaction. “Oh,” she uttered at length, shut her book, and prepared to climb down.

“I’m sorry, David,” she apologised, head bowed, fingers clutching at the cover of the battered copy of Charles Darwin’s _On the Origin of Species_ she’d been reading. “Please, don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry,” he clarified, mindful of all the times he’d been hiding in this exact same place as a child. _I just thought you might be dead, and it was all my fault – again_ , he thought, but didn’t say. The entire incident with Colin’s portal aside, he wasn’t sure he could bear the idea of being responsible for someone else’s death. Perhaps Mr Martin Mann had been in the right, he should have stayed locked up for everyone’s safety.

 _For Shareholders’ sake, David, you’re the adult here_ , he promptly chided himself. _You’re not supposed to break down and cry in front of an actual child._

“May I hug you now?” Emma asked, somewhat stiffly, and he stared at her for a long moment before nodding, opening his arms with the same quiet resignation he experienced whenever he was being verbally or physically abused by a fellow employee. He wasn’t quite prepared for the unfamiliar, vaguely overwhelming feeling that came with standing so close to another human being, a warm, living body holding onto him without showing signs of either fear or disgust.

It was – nice, he supposed. His parents had never been much for unnecessary physical contact, and for all that Colin had been a far more tactile person, well, there had never been much between them beyond the occasional ruffle of hair, or the – perhaps a little too friendly – pat on the back.

(Shareholders, he shouldn’t be thinking of Colin, especially right now. He wasn’t seventeen anymore, and there were people relying on him now, however few – and possibly deluded – they might be.)

“This is all very touching,” Maxamillian sneered, his tone between sarcastic and exasperated. “Though, if you could possibly find a more suitable location – some people are trying to work here, you know.”

Emma stuck her tongue out at him, tugged David by the hand. “Let’s go get some ice cream. I’ll come back for my book later.”

“Shareholders, no. Take it with you, and never come back.”

David chuckled – and actual, genuine chuckle, one that didn’t burn at the back of his throat like poisoned shards of glass. Maxamillian kept muttering under his breath until they were well out of the door, but for once in his life, he just couldn’t bring himself to care.


	4. Chapter 4

“David! Hey, buddy, how are things going?”

He forced a smile onto his face as he placed the drink on the table, had to remind himself he should probably try and look Jim in the eye. “I’m fine. Great, even. Shall I bring you some salted nuts?”

“Yes, please! Salted nuts are the best thing since meat cubes, don’t you agree?”

“Haha, I suppose they are?” he nodded, more out of habit than anything else. People seldom remembered he was a vegetarian, and there was no reason they should, really. It wasn’t as if he was actually important, or anything. The less they thought of him, the better.

He was mentally congratulating himself on not spilling or breaking anything for once, when Jim spoke again. “Oh, and I’m supposed to tell you – Hob has finally found a new family for Emma. We’re going to take them to meet her this afternoon. Isn’t that great?”

David stopped dead in his tracks, wondered what the sinking feeling at the bottom of his stomach was about. Miss Hob had told him right from the start that this was merely a temporary arrangement, and he was the first to admit he was the worst foster parent anyone could think of, let alone a complete failure and a disgrace to his own name. It was just – he was getting used to having Emma around, somehow. Just the other day, they’d been looking at blood samples under the microscope, and the realisation that he felt, for the most part, happy had hit him like a bolt from the blue.

Of course she would be better off without him, with a proper family to look after her. He should be happy for her – he was happy for her, no matter that the sudden pain in his chest told a different story. He would still see Emma around, he supposed; it was fine, it was all fine.

“David? Are you all right?”

“Yeah. Fine. I’m just – I’ll go and get your nuts,” he stammered, opting for a hasty retreat. He barely registered Dawn’s cheeky laughter – probably another of her trademark innuendos, which would be completely lost on him anyway, so it didn’t matter.

For the rest of his shift, he tried to think of anything but Emma. He remembered how Colin had once told him he couldn’t see him as a family man, and he supposed that was fair enough. It wasn’t as if he had any chance of meeting a compatible that didn’t either hate him or despise him, and besides, if the whole unfortunate business with Colin had taught him anything, it was that he was far better off on his own.

(He tried to remember the name of the person he’d seen Miss Hob with a couple of nights before, absently wondered if the two of them were actually dating. Not that it was any of his business. _Stop being an idiot, David._ )

He’d been planning to take Emma to the topmost level of the base, show her the moons through the clear glass ceiling. Her newly assigned parents would get to do that now; or, more likely, they would tell her to focus on her school exams and forget about everything else. (At least, that was what his own parents used to do. As a former science intern, he was perfectly aware that was a very small sample, statistically speaking.)

He was very proud of how he didn’t shed a single tear until he was safely back to quarters, door locked and lights switched off. He was fine. It was all for the best.


	5. Chapter 5

The two moons were raising in the night sky, moving towards one another from opposite directions. It was always so quiet up there, no one around except for the odd robot going about performing their assigned tasks. He closed his eyes, slowly counted backwards from one hundred to zero; nothing to love, nothing to lose, that was his mantra ever since the early days of his incarceration, and it did work, most of the time.

His subconscious loosely registered a set of human footsteps approaching, effortlessly managed to block it out. He was sitting in the half-light, silent and still; other human beings would hardly notice him, or would at best ignore him, most likely.

Unless, of course, they had come up there specifically to look after him. He sighed deeply, and opened his eyes. “Hello, Miss Hob.”

“David,” she addressed him, accusingly. “We’ve been searching for your for hours. Where on Mars have you been?”

He blinked, tilted his head slightly to one side. “Well, here, actually. I thought that was fairly obvious.”

“Let me stop you there. I’m not in the mood for any of your Martian nonsense. Why are you up here at all, let alone at this time of the night?”

He gestured vaguely to the glass vault above them. “I come here to look at the sky, sometimes. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

Her face softened ever so slightly, and she eventually relented enough to close the distance between them, sat down next to him. “Our moon was bigger, and brighter. Still is, I suppose, even if there is no longer anyone looking up at it from what is left of the Earth.”

“That one is Phobos,” he pointed. “It’s the closer of the two, and the larger one too. The smaller one is Deimos. I think that’s fear and dread, respectively – in one of those ancient, dead Earthling languages, as far as I can tell.”

“How very appropriate,” Miss Hob remarked, her voice heavy with irony. She squared her shoulders, turned to face him. “David, we need to talk about Emma.”

“What about Emma?” he asked, his mind unhelpfully presenting him with the worst-case scenario. “Is she okay? Did anything happen to her?”

“She’s fine. She’s just refusing to talk to anyone, unless I swear I’m letting her stay with you.”

“She’s – what?” he frowned, uncomprehending. He’d naturally assumed she would be happy about her new situation; though to be fair, he wasn’t sure how he’d have felt about it, had he been in her shoes.

“The question is, what do you want to do? Would you even consider fostering a child, with everything that it entails?”

He looked at her, wondered if she had finally lost it. Delayed trauma response, that sort of thing. “Come on. I’m David Knight, MarsCorp’s first – and so far, only – criminal. You can’t be asking me that.”

“David, I don’t care what everybody else thinks. I’m the base manager now, and yes, I’m asking you.”

He laughed then, a small, pained noise that sounded pathetic to his own ears. “I’d be a terrible parent.”

“Agreed. Emma is still happier than anyone on this wreck of a base has ever seen her.”

A strange thought crossed his mind, and he voiced it before he could question the wisdom of doing so. “You’re weird too. Only, in a good way. I mean, well, I – I’m not sure what I mean.”

“David, stop talking now,” she warned, but she sounded at least half amused.

He did, and they stayed there, looking at the moons as they followed their orbits around the planet.  


	6. Chapter 6

They were in the middle of filtering the sugarcane syrup he was planning to turn into a passable imitation of what old Earthling books referred to as honey, when there was a knock at the door.

“Goodness. You two have been quite the busy little bees, haven’t you?” Miss Hob stated somewhat sceptically, as she took in the state of the room.

“Well, it’s funny you should say that,” he smirked, conspiratorially. “We are in fact trying to synthesise an alternative to a bee product, which I believe was fairly common on planet Earth in the olden days.”

“Yes, David, thank you for reminding me how ancient I am if compared to anyone else on this planet.”

“That depends on how you count all the years you spent in suspended animation,” Emma chipped in, as if she was merely discussing another scientific fact. “Your metabolism during that time span had been so significantly reduced your cells are now only a few years older than any other person your age.”

Miss Hob rolled her eyes, but she didn’t look unduly troubled by the lecture. Which was a relief, as far as David was concerned; the last thing he wanted was for Emma to be labelled as problematic, and therefore a threat to MarsCorp’s mission.

“Why do the two of you have glitter in your hair anyway?”

“Oh, that’s easy,” he grinned, helpfully. “Dave wanted to get rid of all the coloured sugar he still had in stock, and he agreed to let us buy some at a really affordable price.”

“So you basically let Dave Price trick you into wasting your tokens on something you didn’t need, then decided to use it as a novelty hair product?”

“It’s a surprise,” Emma pointed out quite seriously. “We’re not going to tell you until it’s finished.”

Miss Hob glared between them in mild exasperation, pinched at the bridge of her nose as if to relieve the stress. “Tell you what, I don’t even want to know. Just try not to blow up the entire base, will you?”

“That’s the spirit,” David agreed gleefully, watching as she stalked out of the room. Only then he realised she hadn’t even mentioned the reason for her visit, and he stared at the closing door in confusion.

“She was just checking on me, probably,” Emma shrugged, as if she’d actually read his mind. “Besides, I don’t think you’re really her type.”

He felt a sudden warmth in his cheeks and ears, knew they were turning an embarrassing shade of pink. It was just a silly little crush, he’d been ever so careful not to let it show, but of course Emma was far more observant than your average Martian. “I – of course not! We’re not even compatibles, and it’s just – I’d never – I’d better go and check my calculations again.”

Emma’s voice followed him as he rushed to the adjoining room. “She’s still going to like our scale model of the Solar System. The rings of Saturn are so sparkly, I’m tempted to keep the whole planet for myself.”

He took a deep, calming breath, idly checked the notebook where he’d been marking down the entire honey-making process. Maybe one day they would be able to recreate bees as well, and wouldn’t that be absolutely fascinating?

“I would love to see the Earth, one day,” he declared with conviction, throwing one last glance at the sugar-coated spheres that were hanging from the ceiling.

Emma shook her head as he resumed his place, easily settled against his side. He smiled, warmly, and focused on the task at hand.


End file.
